About Me

Tech-curious movie addict who will work for (very) good coffee. Owns imaginary pug Steve and Pembroke Welsh corgi French Fry. A born foodie who watches too much TV and a Doctor Who fan. Gets a fix from putting together Ikea furniture but doesn’t shop there. Pays bills by moonlighting as a public relations consultant. Hopes to grow up to become a movie critic, chef extraordinaire, travel writer, yoga practitioner – in no specific order.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

This is what happens when you don't update your blog for 2 months

I've been so bad about posting, and it doesn't help that I'm so tired by the time I come home from work that all I want to do is crawl under my warm blanket and watch my favorite tv show -- which for some reason, I have something to watch every single day of week.Monday: NBC's Heroes. Think X-Men but with a bunch of less attractive unknowns (except for the cutie who plays Jess in Gilmore Girls) in regular clothes.Tuesday: F/X Nip Tuck. I'm addicted to weird drama series. The more disturbing, the more unnerving, the better. Everyone's got issues, so why not make a successful series out of it?Wednesday: Bravo's Project Runway. I follow EVERY season, coz I love the focus on the creativity of the fashion designers, not the lame-o, talentless, anorexic models like in America's Next Top Model. Sad thing is, this week is the season finale. Sob. Which means, if I go back to Malaysia, I won't be able to catch the new season. :(Thursday: Double whammy night! I'm stuck on ABC all night, from Grey's Anatomy (I can't believe Meredith chose McDreamy instead of McVet! Nooooo...how can you choose the guy who you know is going to hurt you? Then again, we all do at some point of our lives. I'm sooo glad Grey's came along, I thought I wouldn't have anything to watch since Ally McBeal and Sex & the City wrapped up their seasons. Then, there's Six Degrees, by the same producer as Lost. I love confusing emsemble casts with multiple story lines -- love it when I can't tell what's going to happen next. 6 people with secrets, who learn what life really means to them when their lives intertwined. Think Lost minus the island, polar bears, underground shelter with a better-dressed cast.Friday: My "I'm-sick-of-coooking-so-let's-go-out-and-eat" day.

So yeah, that basically sums my life up for the past few months -- waking up at 6:45am, taking a 45 minute commute to work, work, work, then come home and chill. :)

I did go camping this weekend though -- something which I haven't done forever. Come to think of it, I don't think I've actually camped overnight anywhere with proper sleeping bags, firewood and smores. Mmm...smores. Give me marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers and a burning fire -- that's all I need! So yeah, went camping at Lassen Volcanic National Park, temperature was freezing at night but we (Zhuang, my sis and Adrian) were warm and toasty in our sleeping bags in our tent. It's kinda cool knowing that we camped in on top of a live volcano - last eruption was in 1914. I was close to backing out (stupid migraine) but I'm totally glad that Zhuang used reverse psychology on me and made me go "willingly." Went for a 3-mile hike the next day. Hike was pretty easy, but definitely not worth it. I mean, who wants to hike for an hour to reach pots of hot springs that smell that rotten eggs? Yup, you read right. It was a collection of hot springs with sulfur, which equals hyrogen sulfide when mixed with water (I may have gotten an A2 for chemistry in SPM, but that means nuts coz I have no idea if the chemical reaction is even right). So yeah, after a 45-minute to an hour hike, you would think that you would reach a beautiful peak with gorgeous views -- nope. Just an entire area that smells like ass. Bleeeuurrggh. Kinda scary knowing that this is my second 3-mile hike in less than a month, went hiking in Yosemite in September. And, on top of that, I just bought a bike. I figured that was a better investment than a gym membership which I would have stopped using in a month anyway. Sad news is, I've only gone riding once since I bought the bike. Just realized that the last time I cycled was when I was 8 or 9. It's true though, like they said, you'll never forget how to ride a bike.

Oh, and on the work side -- I was transfered over from the corporate practice group to consumer technology practice group. I love that I now have experience from two practice groups that are highly in demand in any PR agency in the world. Woohoo! The best part is, from working on Visa as a client in corporate, I now work on Yahoo!. I mean, can you have experience with two bigger clients? Hoping to get more work done for Capcom and Cathay Pacific. Since they moved me over to consumer tech (they needed extra support), corporate needs a new intern to replace me but it's been almost a month and they still don't have a replacement yet. I feel kinda bad about that, but it definitely boosted my ego to overhear a compliment that was in the wind:Intern supervisor: So what did you think of [intern candidate's name]?Account manager who was interviewing the candidate: Well, she's definitely no Audrey.Hahahaha...I know, I know, my head's as big as ever, but hey, anyone who knows me knows that humility isn't exactly me.

I saw The Departed last week, really wanted to like it. It is Scorsese after all, and I'm a big fan of Mr. Scorsese, but sigh, my vote goes to Infernal Affairs. I maintain though that it is unfair to compare both movies, since in terms of stylistics and storytelling, both directors are very different. But overall, Infernal Affairs (just the first one, not the trilogy) was a better film. And no, this has nothing to do with the fact that I hung out with Andy Lau (haha, this still has not sunk in yet. I'm not exactly star struck, just loved people's reaction when I tell them I had coffee and went shopping with him). Jack Nicholson did a better job than Eric Tsang, but Andy Lau was much better as a multidimensional character than Matt Damon. Then again, I've never liked Damon. This is what happens when you hang out too much with bad actors, the bad acting from Ben Affleck probably rubbed off on Damon. And, for the first time ever, I'm ready to admit that I have a crush on Tony Leung. I just realized that I've never found Asian men very attractive, but there's something about Tony Leung. He's got a mysterious air of nonchalance that I think is absolutely sexy! And it never hurts to play lead in my many Wong Kar-Wai favorites. Sigh...now, it would totally make my day to meet Tony Leung in person. He's like my Asian Johnny Depp. Hahaha...

Oooo, on other movie news -- John Cameron Mitchell's new film is finally out! It's been a long time coming since Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but after making his fans wait for 5 years, Mitchell finally wrote and directed "Shortbus" -- an unrated, over 18-only film about a group of New York City-dwellers who work out their sexual relationships in an underground salon called Shortbus. It's not a film for everyone, but if you're like me, i.e. weird -- you'll love any film that's honest and daring enough to discuss sex. Check out the Shortbus trailer.